The Nations: from YouTube remixes to modern music radio – founder Andre Benz explains how he tries to meet the needs of young music consumers
Ep. 155: Andre Benz founded The Nations when he was in high school. What began as a Youtube channel uploading dance music remixes has transformed into a media conglomerate with a record label and various genre-focused channels. In the latest episode of the Music Ally Focus podcast, he explains the challenges of building a multi-faceted ecosystem that meets the needs of modern music fans, and also creators – and doing it all on top of existing infrastructure in the form of Youtube. The Nations' success, he says, hinges on understanding its audience.By fostering a community through comments and replies, he built a loyal fanbase hungry for curated music experiences. This community-building resonated deeply with Benz. "There's so much power... in replying to comments and making them feel special," he says. This philosophy, he believes, aligns with a shift in music consumption, where tastemakers and algorithms now play a bigger role than traditional gatekeepers. "It's essentially a modern-day radio station" for a younger generation seeking music that aligns with their tastes, says Benz. Nations https://nations.io/ Lowly https://lowly.io/about/ Broke: https://www.brokemusic.io/about ------ 👋 The Knowledge, Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo 👉 FREE Amazon Music for Artists courses & certification: https://learn.musically.com/courses/amazon-music-for-artists/ 🎉 You may be eligible for a FREE Music Ally subscription, worth £399/year, via our corporate and sponsored subscriptions. If you work for a DSP, a major label, an indie label, or if you’re an artist manager, an employee of a CMO or a publisher, check here to see if you’re eligible: musically.com/subscription-options Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-leading analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb